Title: Round the Fire
Author: Catherine Crowe
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Language: English
Date first posted: August 2006
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Round the Fire

by

Catherine Crowe

'My story will be a very short one,' said Mrs M.; 'for I must tell
you that though, like everybody else, I have heard a great many ghost
stories, and have met people who assured me they had seen such
things, I cannot, for my own part, bring myself to believe in them;
but a circumstance occurred when I was abroad that you may perhaps
consider of a ghostly nature, though I cannot.

'I was travelling through Germany, with no one but my maid--it
before the time of railways, and on my road from Leipsic to Dresden I
stopped at an inn that appeared to have been long ago part an
aristocratic residence--a castle, in short; for there was a stone
wall and battlements, and a tower at one side; while the other was a
prosaic-looking square building that had evidently been added in
modern times. The inn stood at one end of a small village, in which
some of the houses looked so antique that they might, I thought, be
coeval with the castle itself. There were a good many travellers, but
the host said he could accommodate me; and when I asked to see my
room, he led me up to the towers, and showed me a tolerably
comfortab1e one. There were only two apartments on each floor; so I
asked him if I could have the other for my maid, and he said yes, if
no other traveller arrived. None came, and she slept there.

'I supped at the table d'hôte, and retired to bed early, as
I had an excursion to make on the following day; and I was
sufficiently tired with my journey to fall asleep directly.

'I don't know how long I had slept--but I think some hours, when I
awoke quite suddenly, almost with a start, and beheld near the foot
of the bed the most hideous, dreadful-looking old woman, in an
antique dress, that imagination can conceive. She seemed to be
approaching me---not as if walking, but gliding, with her left arm
and hand extended towards me.

'"Merciful God, deliver me!" I exclaimed under my first impulse of
amazement; and as I said the words she disappeared.'

'Then, though you don't believe in ghosts, you thought it was one
when you saw it,' said I.

'I don't know what I thought--I admit I was a good deal
frightened, and it was a long time before I fell asleep again.

'In the morning,' continued Mrs M., 'my maid knocked, and I told
her to come in; but the door was locked, and I had to get out of bed
to admit her-I thought I might have forgotten to fasten it. As soon
as I was up I examined every part of the room, but I could find
nothing to account for this intrusion. There was neither trap nor
moving panel, nor door that I could see, except the one I had locked.
However, I made up my mind not to speak of the circumstance, for I
fancied I must have been deceived in supposing myself awake, and that
it was only a dream; more particularly as there was no light in my
room, and I could not comprehend how I could have seen this
woman.

'I went out early, and was away the greater part of the day. When
I returned I found more travellers had arrived, and that they had
given the room next mine to a German lady and her daughter, who were
at the table d'hôte. I therefore had a bed made up in my room
for my maid; and before I lay down, I searched thoroughly, that I
might be sure nobody was concealed there.

'In the middle of the night--I suppose about the same time I had
been disturbed on the preceding one--I and my maid were awakened by a
piercing scream; and I heard the voice of the German girl in the
adjoining room, exclaiming, "Ach! meine mutter! meine mutter!"

'For some time afterwards I heard them talking, and then I fell
asleep--wondering. I confess,.whether they had had a visit from the
frightful old woman. They left me in no doubt the next morning. They
came down to breakfast greatly excited--told everybody the
cause---described the old woman exactly as I had seen her, and
departed from the house incontently, declaring they would not stay
there another hour.'

'What did the host say to it?' we asked.

'Nothing; he said we must have dreamed it--and I suppose we
did.'

'Your story,' said I, 'reminds me of a very interesting letter
which I received soon after the publication of The Night Side of
Nature. It was from a clergyman who gave his name, and said he was
chaplain to a nobleman. He related that in a house he inhabited, or
had inhabited, a lady had one evening gone upstairs and seen, to her
amazement, in a room, the door of which was open, a lady in an
antique dress standing before a chest of drawers and apparently
examining their contents. She stood still, wondering who this
stranger could be, when the figure turned her face towards her and,
to her horror, she saw there were no eyes. Other members of the
family saw the same apparition also. I believe there were further
particulars; but I unfortunately lost this letter, with some others,
in the confusion of changing my residence.

'The absence of eyes I take to be emblematical of moral blindness;
for in the world of spirits there is no deceiving each other by false
seemings; as we are, so we appear.

'Then,' said Mrs W.C., 'the apparition--if it was an
apparition---that two of my servants saw lately, must be in a very
degraded state.

'There is a road, and on one side of it a path, just beyond my
garden wall. Not long ago two of my servants were in the dusk of the
evening walking up this path, when they saw a large, dark object
coming towards them. At first they thought it was an animal; and when
it got close one of them stretched out her hand to touch it; but she
could feel nothing, and it passed on between her and the garden wall,
although there was no space, the path being only wide enough for two;
and on looking back, they saw it walking down the hill behind them.
Three men were coming up on the path, and as the thing approached
they jumped off into the road.

'"Good heavens, what is that!" cried the women.

'"I don't know," replied the men; "I never saw such a thing as
that before."

'The women came home greatly agitated; and we have since heard
there is a tradition that the spot is haunted by the ghost of a man
who was killed in a quarry close by.'

'I have travelled a great deal,' said our next speaker, the
Chevalier de La C.G.; 'and, certainly, I have never been in any
country where instances of these spiritual appearances were not
adduced on apparently credible authority. I have heard numerous
stories of the sort, but the one that most readily occurs to me at
present was told to me not long ago, in Paris, by Count P.---the
nephew of the celebrated Count P. whose name occurs in the history of
the remarkable incidents connected with the death of the Emperor
Paul.

'Count P., my authority for the following story, was attached to
the Russian embassy; and he told me, one evening, when the
conversation turned on the inconveniences of travelling in the East
of Europe, that on one occasion, when in Poland, he found himself
about seven o'clock in an autumn evening on a forest road, where
there was no possibility of finding a house of public entertainment
within many miles. There was a frightful storm; the road, not good at
the best, was almost impracticable from the weather, and his horses
were completely knocked up. On consulting his people what was best to
be done, they said that to go back was as impossible as to go
forward; but that by turning a little out of the main road, they
should soon reach a castle where possibly shelter might be procured
for the night. The count gladly consented, and it was not long before
they found themselves at the gate of what appeared a building on a
very splendid scale The courier quickly alighted and rang at the
bell, and while waiting for admission he inquired who the castle
belonged to, and was told that it was Count X's.

'It was some time before the bell was answered, but at length all
elderly man appeared at a wicket, with a lantern, and peeped out. On
perceiving the equipage, he came forward and stepped up to the
carriage, holding the light aloft to discover who was inside. Count
P. handed him his card, and explained his distress.

'"There is no one here, my lord," replied the man, "but myself and
my family; the castle is not inhabited."

'"That's bad news," said the count; "but nevertheless, you can
give me what I am most in need of, and that is--shelter for the
night."

'"Willingly," said the man, "if your lordship will put up with
such accommodation as we can hastily prepare."

'"So," said the count, "I alighted and walked in; and the old man
unbarred the great gates to admit my carriages and people. We found
ourselves in an immense cour, with the castle en face, and stables
and offices on each side. As we had a fourgon with us, with provender
for the cattle and provisions for ourselves, we wanted nothing but
beds and a good fire; and as the only one lighted was in the old
man's apartments, he first took us there. They consisted of a suite
of small rooms in the left wing, that had probably been formerly
occupied by the upper servants. They were comfortably furnished, and
he and his large family appeared to be very well lodged."

Besides the wife, there were three sons, with their wives and
children, and two nieces; and in a part of the offices, where I saw a
light, I was told there were labourers and women servants, for it was
a valuable estate, with a fine forest, and the sons acted as gardes
chasse.

'"Is there much game in the forest?" I asked.

'"A great deal of all sorts," they answered.

'"Then I suppose during the season the family live here?"

'"Never," they replied. "None of the family ever reside here."

'"Indeed!" I said; "how is that? It seems a very fine place."

'"Superb," answered the wife of the custodian; "but the castle is
haunted."

'She said this with a simple gravity that made me laugh; upon
which they all stared at me with the most edifying amazement.

'"I beg your pardon," I said; "but you know, perhaps, in great
cities, such as I usually inhabit, there are no ghosts."

'"Indeed!" said they. "No ghosts!"

'"At least," I said, "I never heard of any; and we don't believe
in such things."

'They looked at each other with surprise, but said nothing; not
appearing to have any desire to convince me. "But do you mean to
say," said I, "that that is the reason the family don't live here,
and that the castle is abandoned on that account?"

'"Yes," they replied, "that is the reason nobody has resided here
for many years."

'"But how can you live here then?"

'"We are never troubled in this part of the building," said she.
"We hear noises, but we are used to that."

'"Well, if there is a ghost, I hope I shall see it," said I.

'"God forbid!" said the woman, crossing herself. "But we shall
guard against that; your seigneurie will sleep not far from this,
where you will be quite safe."

'"Oh! but," said I, "I am quite serious: if there is a ghost I
should particularly like to see him, and I should be much obliged to
you to put me in the apartments he most frequents.".'They opposed
this proposition earnestly, and begged me not to think of it;
besides, they said if anything was to happen to my lord, how should
they answer for it; but as I insisted, the women went to call the
members of the family who were lighting fires and preparing beds in
some rooms on the same floor as they occupied themselves. When they
came they were as earnest against the indulgence of my wishes as the
women had been. Still I insisted.

'"Are you afraid," I said, "to go yourselves in the haunted
chambers?"

'"No," they answered. "We are the custodians of the castle and
have to keep the rooms clean and well aired lest the furniture be
spoiled--my lord talks always of removing it, but it has never been
removed yet--but we would not sleep up there for all the world."

'"Then it is the upper floors that are haunted?"

'"Yes, especially the long room, no one could pass a night there;
the last that did is in a lunatic asylum now at Warsaw," said the
custodian.

'"What happened to him?"

'"I don't know," said the man; "he was never able to tell."

'"Who was he?" I asked.

'"He was a lawyer. My lord did business with him; and one day he
was speaking of this place, and saying that it was a pity he was not
at liberty to pull it down and sell the materials; but he cannot,
because it is family property and goes with the title; and the lawyer
said he wished it was his, and that no ghost should keep him out of
it. My lord said that it was easy for any one to say that who knew
nothing about it, and that he must suppose the family had not
abandoned such a fine place without good reasons. But the lawyer said
it was some trick, and that it was coiners, or robbers, who had got a
footing in the castle, and contrived to frighten people away that
they might keep it to themselves; so my lord said if he could prove
that he should be very much obliged to him, and more than that, he
would give him a great sum--I don't know how much."

So the lawyer said he would; and my lord wrote to me that he was
coming to inspect the property, and I was to let him do anything he
liked.

'"Well, he came, and with him his son, a fine young man and a
soldier. They asked me all sorts of questions, and went over the
castle and examined every part of it. From what they said, I could
see that they thought the ghost was all nonsense, and that I and my
family were in collusion with the robbers or coiners. However, I did
not care for that; my lord knew that the castle had been haunted
before I was born."

'"I had prepared rooms on this floor for them--the same I am
preparing for your lordship, and they slept there, keeping the keys
of the upper rooms to themselves, so I did not interfere with them.
But one morning, very early, we were awakened by someone knocking at
our bedroom door, and when we opened it we saw Mr Thaddeus--that was
the lawyer's son---standing there half-dressed and as pale as a
ghost; and he said his father was very ill and he begged us to go to
him; to our surprise he led us upstairs to the haunted chamber, and
there we found the poor gentleman speechless, and we thought they had
gone up there early and that he had had a stroke. But it was not so;
Mr Thaddeus said that after we were all in bed they had gone up there
to pass the night. I know they thought that there was no ghost but
us, and that's why they would not let us know their intention. They
laid down upon some sofas, wrapt up in their fur cloaks, I and
resolved to keep awake, and they did so for some time, but at last
the young man was overcome by drowsiness; he struggled against it,
but could not conquer it, and the last thing he recollects was his
father shaking him and saying, 'Thaddeus, Thaddeus, for God's sake
keep awake!' But he could not, and he knew no more till he woke and
saw that day was breaking, and found his father sitting in a corner
of the room speechless, and looking like a corpse; and there he was
when we went up. The young man thought he'd been taken ill or had a
stroke, as we supposed at first; but when we found they had passed
the night in the haunted chambers, we had no doubt what had
happened--he had seen some terrible sight and so lost his
senses."

'"He lost his senses, I should say, from terror when his son fell
asleep," said I, "and he felt himself alone. He could have been a man
of no nerve. At all events, what you tell me raises my curiosity.
Will you take me upstairs and shew me these rooms?"

'"Willingly," said the man, and fetching a bunch of keys and a
light, and calling one of his sons to follow him with another, he led
the way up the great staircase to a suite of apartments on the first
floor. The rooms were lofty and large, and the man said the furniture
was very handsome, but old. Being all covered with canvas cases, I
could not judge of it. "Which is the long room?" I said.

'Upon which he led me into a long narrow room that might rather
have been called a gallery.

There were sofas along each side, something like a dais at the
upper end; and several large pictures hanging on the walls.

'I had with me a bull dog, of a very fine breed, that had been
given me in England by Lord F.

She had followed me upstairs--indeed, she followed me
everywhere---and I watched her narrowly as she went smelling about,
but there were no indications of her perceiving anything
extraordinary. Beyond this gallery there was only a small octagon
room, with a door that led out upon another staircase. When I had
examined it all thoroughly, I returned to the long room and told the
man as that was the place especially frequented by the ghost, I
should feel much obliged if he would allow me to pass the night
there. I could take upon myself to say that Count X. would have no
objection.

'"It is not that," replied the man; "but the danger to your
lordship," and he conjured me not to insist on such a perilous
experiment.

'When he found I was resolved, he gave way, but on condition that
I signed a paper, stating that in spite of his representations I had
determined to sleep in the long room.

'I confess the more anxious these people seemed to prevent my
sleeping there, the more curious I was; not that I believed in the
ghost the least in the world. I thought that the lawyer had been
right in his conjecture, but that he hadn't nerve enough to
investigate whatever he saw or heard; and that they had succeeded in
frightening him out of his senses. I saw what an excellent place
these people had got, and how much it was their interest to maintain
the idea that the castle was uninhabitable. Now, I have pretty good
nerves--I have been in situations that have tried them severely--and
I did not believe that any ghost, if there was such a thing, or any
jugglery by which a semblance of one might be contrived, would shake
them. As for any real danger, I did not apprehend it; the people knew
who I was, and any mischief happening to me would have led to
consequences they well understood. So they lighted fires in both the
grates of the gallery and as they had abundance of dry wood they soon
blazed up. I was determined not to leave the room after I was once in
it, lest, if my suspicions were correct, they might have time to make
their arrangements; I desired my people to bring up my supper, and I
ate it there.

'My courier said he had always heard the castle was haunted, but
he dare say there was no ghost but the people below, who had a very
comfortable berth of it; and he offered to pass the night with me,
but I declined any companion and preferred trusting to myself and my
dog. My valet, on the contrary, strongly advised me against the
enterprise, assuring me that he had lived with a family in France
whose chateau was haunted, and had left his place in consequence.

'By the time I had finished my supper it was ten o'clock, and
everything was prepared for the night. My bed, though an impromptu,
was very comfortable, made of amply stuffed cushions and thick
coverlets, placed in front of the fire. I was provided with light and
plenty of wood; and I had my regimental cutlass, and a case of
excellent pistols, which I carefully primed and loaded in presence of
the custodian, saying, "You see I am determined to fire at the ghost,
so if he cannot stand a bullet he had better not pay me a visit."

'The old man shook his head calmly, but made no answer. Having
desired the courier, who said he should not go to bed, to come
upstairs immediately if he heard the report of firearms, I dismissed
my people and locked the doors, barricading each with a heavy ottoman
besides. There was no arras or hangings of any sort behind which a
door could be concealed; and I went round the room, the walls of
which were panelled with white and gold, knocking every part, but
neither the sound, nor Dido, the dog, gave any indications of there
being anything unusual. Then I undressed and lay down with my sword
and my pistols beside me; and Dido at the foot of my bed, where she
always slept.

'I confess I was in a state of pleasing excitement; my curiosity
and my love of adventure were roused; and whether it was ghost, or
robber, or coiner, I was to have a visit from, the interview was
likely to be equally interesting. It was half-past ten when I lay
down; my expectations were too vivid to admit of sleep; and after an
attempt at a French novel, I was obliged to give it up; I could not
fix my attention to it. Besides, my chief care was not to be
surprised. I could not help thinking the custodian and his family had
some secret way of getting into the room, and I hoped to detect them
in the act; so I lay with my eyes and ears open in a position that
gave me a view of every part of it, till my travelling clock struck
twelve, which being pre-eminently the ghostly hour, I thought the
critical moment was arrived. But no, no sound, no interruption of any
sort to the silence and solitude of the night occurred. When
half-past twelve and one struck, I pretty well made up my mind that I
should be disappointed in expectations, and that the ghost, whoever
he was, knew better than encounter Dido and a brace of well charged
pistols; but just as I arrived at this conclusion an unaccountable
frisson came over me, and I saw Dido, who tired with her day's
journey had lain till now quietly curled up asleep, begin to move,
and slowly get upon her feet. I thought she was only going to turn,
but, instead of lying down, she stood still with her ears erect and
her head towards the dais, uttering a low growl.

'The dais, I should mention, was but the skeleton of a dais, for
the draperies were taken off.

There was only remaining a canopy covered with crimson velvet, and
an arm-chair covered with velvet too, but cased in canvas like the
rest of the furniture. I had examined this part of the room
thoroughly, and had moved the chair aside to ascertain that there was
nothing under it.

'Well, I sat up in bed and looked steadily in the same direction
as the dog, but I could see nothing at first, though it appeared that
she did; but as I looked I began to perceive something like a cloud
in the chair, while at while at the same time a chill which seemed to
pervade the very marrow in my bones crept through me, yet the fire
was good; and it was not the chill of fear, for I cocked my pistols
with perfect self-possession and abstained from giving Dido the
signal to advance, because I wished eagerly to see the
dénouement of the adventure.

'Gradually this cloud took a form, and assumed the shape of a tall
white figure that reached from the ceiling to the floor of the dais,
which was raised by two steps. "At him, Dido! At him!"

I said, and away she dashed to the steps, but instantly turned and
crept back completely cowed.

As her courage was undoubted, I own this astonished me, and I
should have fired, but that I was perfectly satisfied that what I saw
was not a substantial human form, for I had seen it grow into its
present shape and height from the undefined cloud that first appeared
in the chair. I laid my hand on the dog, who had crept up to my side,
and I felt her shaking in her skin. I was about to rise myself and
approach the figure, though I confess I was a good deal awestruck,
when it stepped majestically from the dais, and seemed to be
advancing. "At him!" I said, "At him, Dido!" and I gave the dog every
encouragement to go forward; she made a sorry attempt, but returned
when she had got half-way and crouched beside me whining with terror.
The figure advanced upon me; the cold became icy; the dog crouched
and trembled; and I, as it approached, honestly confess,' said Count
P., 'that I hid my head under the bedclothes and did not venture to
look up till morning. I know not what it was--as it passed over me I
felt a sensation of undefinable horror, that no words can
describe--and I can only say that nothing on earth would tempt me to
pass another night in that room, and I am sure if Dido could speak
you'd find her of the same opinion.

'I had desired to be called at seven o'clock, and when the
custodian, who accompanied my valet, found me safe and in my perfect
senses, I must say the poor man appeared greatly relieved; and when I
descended the whole family seemed to look upon me as a hero. I
thought it only just to them to admit that something had happened in
the night that I felt impossible to account for, and that I should
not recommend anybody who was not very sure of their nerves to repeat
the experiment.'

When the Chevalier had concluded this extraordinary story, I
suggested that the apparition of the castle very much resembled that
mentioned by the late Professor Gregory, in his letters on mesmerism,
as having appeared in the Tower of London some years ago, and, from
the alarm it created, having occasioned the death of a lady, the wife
of an officer quartered there, and one of the sentries. Every one who
had read that very interesting publication was struck by the
resemblance.